Press for expressing liquids and forming articles from pulp and other material.



W. I. NORRIIS.

PRESS FOR EXPRESSING LIQUIDS AND. FORMING ARTICLES FROM PULP AND OTHER MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. I6. I9l7.

Patented July 23, 1918.

W. I. NORRIS.

PRESS FOR EXPRESSING LIOUIDS AND FORIVIING ARTICLES FROM PULP AND OTHER MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. l5. |917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented July 23, 1918.

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WILLIAM JAMES NORBIS, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

PRESS FOR EXPBESSING LIQUIDS FOBMING ARTICLES FROM PULP AND OTHER MATERIAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 23, 1918.

Application tiled October 16, 1917. Serial No. 196,850.

To all lwhom z't may concern.'

Be it known that I, lVILLrAM JAMES NoR- nis, a subject of the King of England, residing in London, in England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Presses for Expressing Liquids and Forming Articles from Iulp and other Material, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to presses .for consolidating materials containing liquid and driving out the liquid therefrom, and has particular reference to the manufacture of boards or tubes from paper pulp by means of presses of the known type wherein a chamber is provided between two opposed platesl which, when advanced toward each other, compress the pulp between them, thesurfaces of the plates being channeled and covered with wire-gauze so that the water can escape from the chamv ber by means of the channels which comm'unicate withthe exterior of the press, but the pulp is retained and compressed to form .a solid board or other article.

It has been found with these presses that unless the press is operated very quickly, the water drains away too fast so that the pulp begins to settle at the bottom of the chamber, with the result that the article by fluid admitted to the hollow interior so` -as to dry the article after it has been formed by pressure. A

The valve may take various forms, a convenient construction being that wherein two platesare employed placed flat one on the other and whlch eonstitutethe floor of the press, both lates bein perforated and one being mova le relative y to the other so as to bringthe erforations of the two plates into register or opening the valve and out of register for closing the same.

The invention comprises other details of construction all of which are hereinafter described and whereof the novel features are pointed out in the claims.

It will be appreciated that the press can be used for consolidating any material con-- taining liquid whether such material be pulped or otherwise, for example peat could be consolidated by this means or any other material from which it is desired to express the liquid so as to form a comparatively dry body of the solid matter.

In the accompanyings drawings Figure l is a central vertical section through a press constructed according to one method of carrying out this invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan of the same with the top plate removed;

Fig. 3 is a central vertical section through a modified form of press also constructed according to thisinvention, and

Fig." 4 is a transverse section through the press on the line 1 -al of Fig. 3.

The same letters indicate the same parts throughout the drawings.

The press may be built up in any convenient manner, that illustrated comprising outer walls A, A1 and top and bottom coverplates B, B1. The bottom plate B1 is dished and` provided with a depending neck B2 which is bored through at Bato communicate with the hollow provided b the dishing of the bottom B1. Above t is hollow, two plates C, C1 are mounted which constitute the floor of the press, and'pressplates D, D1 slide on the up er plate C of these floor-plates. Rams PE, E1 extend through smiling-boxes provided in the plates D, D1 and are operated by any convenient mechanism, not shown in the drawings. to advance the plates toward one another w en requiredr to withdraw them. The covering-plate B at the top of the press has a central plug B which is removed when the nels conmm-uicate with one another at convenient intervals and at the bottom com! municate by perforatio'ns F1 with' channels 'F2 formed on theunder-side of the pressplates D, D1. rlhefloor-plate C has at its sides perforations C2, and these perforations.

telescopic conduits D1 communicate with the chamber D3 at the top and other telescopic conduits D5 communicate with the chamber D3 at the bottom. Meansnot shown in the drawings are provided for circulating hot iiuid, for example, hot air, through the chambers D3, the fluid entering by the conduits D1 and leaving the chambers by the conduits D5.

The operation of this press is as follows The chamber between the plates D, D1 having been filled with 'fpulp and the filling plug B4 secured firmly (in place by suitable means, the mechanism is set in opera-l tion for advancing the rams E, E1. rlhe first advance tends to consolidate the mass and squeezes a certain amount of the fluid into the channels D2, F2, and fills the holes C2 in the topioor-pla'te C. This plate is now moved to bring, the holes C2 into register with the holes C of the plate C1. Any convenient means'may be provided for moving the plate C, and the pressing is continued; the water can now flow freely away as it is expressed from the solid material until thesolid material only remains and hla) been molded into the required plate or s a While the slab thus formed is still in the press, and in fact, if desired, during the pressing operation also, hot air is forced through the conduits D4 and thus circulates through! the plates D, D1, and passes out by the conduits D5. When further movement of thepress-plates is arrested by the solidity of the slab formed or by the limit of movement being reached which is allowed` for giving the required thickness of, board, the slab may be left in position under pressure and simultaneously dried by this heating of the press-plates.

Further, if deslred, means fon exhausting the air from the press may be attached to the neck B2 so that a vacuum is created within the press, andthe material is thus dried in 'uam/0. Any convenient apparatus may be employed .as the exhausting means to create the vacuum, and such means do not navate? require to be illustrated or described in detail in this specification as in itself it constitutes no part of the present invention.

It will be appreciated that the heating of the press-plates may be dispensed with, in which4 case they need not be hollow, and the telescopic pipes D4, D5v would be dispensed with, but the use of some valve to prevent' the flow of liquid from the press until pressure is already on the pulp is essential to the present invention.

In- Figs. 3 and 4 a modified form of the press is illustrated for molding hollow cylindrical bodies. The construction of the press 'in the main is the same as that already described, but the press-plates G, G1 are provided with hollow faces G2, i3 to give the required shape. to the molded article, and a central ,core in 'the form of a pipe H is provided midway between the plates G, G1. This core H 'is in the form of a tube or pipe which extends from the top of the press where it enters a recess in the tillingplug G4, into the Hoor-plate G.5 which is situated above the bottom plate G1 in the same manner as has been described with reference to the plate C in Figs.- 1 and 2. The floorplate G5, however, does not move endwise and is not necessarily provided with a second plate beneath it, although it has in it perforations G7 which communicate with channels J1 in the bottoms of the pressplates J as before, and Ithese channels coinmunicate with grooves J 2 in the faces of the press-plates, as described with reference to the grooves yor channels F in the faces of the plates D, D1. Y

The core tube H is perforated at H1 and is closed at the bottom by a valve H2. The valve -finds a seating inthe bottom of an orifice G8 in the plate G5, which orifice is concentric with the bottom of the tube H and communicates freely therewith. Means are provided, suchV as the arm H3, for holding the valve I.in the closed position, and this arm is connected to any convenient operating-mechanism, not shown in the drawings, whereby the valve can vbe withdrawn from its seating when required.

The operation of. this pressis practically the same 'as that already described, the pulp1being introduced into the chamber provided between the plates G, G1 and around the tube H. Pressure is first applied with the valve H2 closed, and during this period of pressure, the orifices Grnl will Valso be shut olf from the channels J1 so that vno liquidcan escape through the floor-plate G5. AAt the proper moment the valve H2 is swung down, so that the liquid which by then has entered the tube H through the perforations H1 can freely drain away, and as more liquid is expressed this continues to drain awa through the perforations H1 and the tube As the press-plates advance, the channels J1 in the bottoms of the plates presently register with the orifices G7 and then liquid can also escape by way of the face-channels or grooves J2, the bottom channels J1, and the orifices Gr7 in the plate G5.

The plates G, Gr1 can be heated if desired, as described with reference to the plates D, D1, and the hollow cylindrical bodies formed by this press can thus be dried while in the press; also exhausting means may be applied to the bottom of the press, so that the drying may be effected in cacao.

It has before been proposed to provide the draining means from molds for pressing pulp with draining pipes having stop-cocks attached, but these were intended to be opened during the whole of the pressing and were not designed to withstand the pressure to which they `would be subjected if closed during the first movement of the pressing-ram.

It will be appreciated that although any convenient form of `valve can be used for controlling the drainage according to this invention and any suitable mechanism may 'be provided for operating it, the valve and mechanism must be such as to be able to withstand considerable pressure. Such valves and their operating-mechanism are well-known and thereforeneed no specific description in the present specification.

lVhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a press for consolidating material containing liquid the combination of, a collapsible presschamber having drainagepassages in its walls covered with gauze to permit the escape of the liquid but prevent the solid matter from passing, a dischargeconduit from the press communicating with the drainage-passages and a valve for controlling such discharge-conduit flush with the bottom of the press for the purpose of preventing any fiow from the material under treatment during the first collapsing movement of the press.

2. In a press for consolidating material containing liquid the combination of, a eollapsible presschamber having drainagepassages in its walls covered with gauze to permit the escape of the liquid but prevent solid matter from passing, some of the walls of the press'being hollow, a discharge-conduit from the press communicating with the drainage-passages, a valve for controlling Vsuch discharge-conduit so that no flow takes place therethrough during the first collapsm movement of the press, and means for circu atin a heating medium through the hollow wa ls, for the purpose described..

3. In a press for consolidating material containing liquid the combination of, a

press-chamber having opposed movable walls which slide between the four other walls to collapse the chamber, the two movable walls having channels in the faces which' are toward the interior of the chamber and being covered with gauze to allow the liquid to escape but to prevent the solid matter from passing, the said channels communicating with a recess in the bottom edge of each wall, and a dischargeconduit from the press which isprovided with ports extending through the inner face of the bottom wall of the press and which lie in the path of the recesses of the bot-l toms of the movable walls but which ports are so positioned that when the press is fully open they are covered by the thickness of the walls between the inner face and the said recesses so that communication between the drainage-channels and the discharge-conduit is only opened when the walls have advanced a certain distance to collapse the press, for the purpose set forth.

4. In a press for consolidating material containing liquid the combination of, a press-chamber having opposed movable walls which slide between the four other walls to collapse the chamber, the two movable walls having channels in the faces which are toward the interior of the chamber and being covered with gauze to allow the liquid to escape but to prevent the solid matter from passing, the said channels communicating with a recess in the bottom edge of each wall, a discharge-conduit from the press which is provided with ports extending through to the inner face of the bottom wall of the press and which lie in the path of the recesses of the bottoms of the movable walls but which ports are so positioned that when the press is fully open they are covered by the thickness of the walls between the inner face and the said recesses so that communication between the drainage-channels and the discharge-conduit is only opened when the wal s have advanced a certain distance to collapse the press, a vertically situated hollow core in the center of the mold parallel to the said movable plates whose inner faces are shaped to approximately correspond to the outer faces of the core, the said core being perforated and covered with gauze to permit drainage of the liquid but prevent passage of the solid material, and a valve which closes the lower end of the core to prevent discharge of the liquid until such time as is desired, for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

WILLIAM JAMES NORRIS. 

